Pleurodesis is an operative procedure designed to prevent a lung from collapsing or recollapsing after inflation. Particularly patients who suffer from spontaneous pneumothorax or pleura effusions, for example, those patients with lung cancer and/or acquired immune deficiency will frequently suffer collapsed lungs.
Treatment includes draining the pleural space and reinflating the lung. The outer lung wall or visceral pleura is then bonded to the parietal pleura. In pleurodesis, this is done by scarring the visceral and parietal pleura so that upon healing, they bond to each other.
This is generally accomplished with a thoracostomy tube procedure. In this procedure, a scarring agent, such as tetracycline or a saline slurry of talc is administered into the pleural space through the thoracostomy tube. Movement of the patient causes the scarring agent to flow around the chest cavity. Upon healing, the lung is bonded to the chest cavity preventing a recollapse of the lung. The talc powder can also be administered with an insufflator or syringe.
Utilizing an aqueous slurry or an aqueous solution requires that the material be spread evenly around the area that requires repeated movement of the patient. This requirement makes the result relatively questionable because it is difficult to ensure even coating of the slurry over the affected area.
Further, when talc is applied, it must be combined with saline and agitated to form a uniform slurry. This is time consuming. The use of an insufflator to administer powdered talc is advantageous but the talc can simply flow out the end of the insufflator. This makes an insufflator very difficult to use.